I always use the mastering suite.
I start with a default mastering suite and then mainly use the eq inside the mastering suite to do a final eq.
I try not to use the compressor.
I mainly use it to get as good a quality balance of sound from the track before exporting into Soundforge and using the Waves plugins for the final master.
Exporting each track into something like pro tools is without a doubt the better way to go, it is also long winded and requires learning another whole piece of software.
The results speak for themselves, but so does the time it takes to learn not only equing & mastering, but also a piece of software as complicated as pro tools.
My advice will be to use the default mastering suite in between the hardware mixer and the track mixer, and then play around with the vairious elements inside the suite to hear what each thing does.
It is equipped with an eq, a compressor, a stereo imager and a limiter. These are standard mixing/mastering tools, and it would pay to learn the basics of each tool before diving in at the deep end.
You can also bypass the mastering suite to check the new "mastered" version against the original at a flick of a switch.